Colorado is less religious, more Democratic

What Colorado's relative lack of faith means at the ballot box

According to a Gallup poll, Colorado ranks 37th of 50 states in terms of religiosity. This could be a factor in why the state's electorate has been trending Democratic. (AP file photo)

Pollsters tell us Colorado is not very religious, and perhaps becoming less religious. This comparatively low level of religious belief in Colorado could be a factor in why the state's electorate has been trending toward the Democratic Party in recent years.

The relationship between religion and voting behavior is well known and closely studied. For instance, the more that people attend church regularly, the more likely they are to vote Republican.

Many people think of Colorado as a religious state, particularly because of the concentration of religious organizations in Colorado Springs. But the latest polls show Colorado to be not all that religious, and the results of that trend are showing up at the ballot box to the benefit of the Democrats.

A national Gallup poll taken in February ranked Colorado 37th of the 50 states in terms of religiosity. Gallup rated Colorado one of the "least religious" states in the U.S.

Only one-third of Coloradans said religion is important in their daily lives and that they attend religious services most every week.

That Colorado figure is well below the national average. In the entire United States, 40.1 percent told Gallup they were "very religious," but only 33.5 percent of Coloradans put themselves in that category.

A 2004 Gallup poll was even more telling.

That poll measured the percentage of people in each state who said they had no religion at all. At 15 percent non-religious, Colorado ranked fourth on the list. Only Oregon, Idaho and Washington state had higher percentages of people who identified themselves as "religionless."

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The 2013 poll found a direct relationship between the religiosity of states and how those states voted in the 2012 presidential election.

According to tracking surveys, 19 of the top 20 most-religious states voted for Republican Mitt Romney in the 2012 presidential election. Mississippi, Alabama and other Southern states were among the "most religious" states, along with Utah with its high proportion of Mormon voters, and these states were Romney country.

Topping the "least religious" list of states were Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine, along with West Coast states such as Oregon and Washington. These states voted decidedly for Democrat Barack Obama.

Colorado was the least religious of the battleground states — states where the voting was close between Mitt Romney and Barack Obama. That meant that Colorado was less religious than other battleground states such as Iowa, Virginia, Pennsylvania, Ohio, North Carolina, Florida or Wisconsin.

Although a battleground state, Colorado voted decidedly for Democrat Barack Obama in 2012.

Colorado's low ranking on the religiosity scale helps explain why the state's residents have changed their policy views on civil unions, gay rights, recreational marijuana, and other social issues such as immigration policy. All these issues are closely identified with the Democratic Party.

The shift has come quickly. Democratic Gov. John Hickenlooper, when he was running for governor in 2010, never really talked about marriage equality, marijuana, or social issues. He was all about jobs and economic recovery.

But Hickenlooper has signed into law a civil unions bill that gives marriage-type rights to same-sex couples. Somewhat reluctantly, following passage of a statewide initiative legalizing recreational marijuana in Colorado, Hickenlooper is now implementing recreational marijuana policies for the state.

When it comes to elections, Colorado has shifted from a traditionally "red state" (mostly conservative and mostly Republican) to a "purple state" (more moderate, sometimes votes Republican and sometimes votes Democratic).

What does all this mean for Colorado?

As the Republican Party has become more opposed, on religious grounds, to same-sex marriage, it is marching in the opposite direction from the way public opinion is going, particularly among younger voters.

But Democrats should not become overconfident that the relative weakness of religiosity in Colorado is giving them a lock on winning Colorado elections.

Strongly Republican cities and counties, by and large, in Colorado are opting out of recreational marijuana sales in the state. The voting public could come to see the Democrats as overreaching on social change and going too far too fast.

So stay tuned.

Tom Cronin and Bob Loevy are political scientists at Colorado College. They are co-authors of the recently published "Colorado Politics and Policy: Governing a Purple State."

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